Unfortunately I am not Bryan Cranston or Jessie Pinkman (he plays himself, right?) and I am not Breaking Bad. Well I am in the Razzball Writer’s League! Wait, by breaking bad I mean doing good. Kinda the antithesis of my metaphor here. Scrap that open – I’m too lazy to hold down delete though…

Whilst I break bad in the Razzball Writer’s league, I’m looking at a 4-1 then two 3-2 and two 2-3 teams. I know you’re yelling at your computer, “I don’t care about JB’s leagues!” But what I’m trying to get at is that week 6 is right when I want to be sure I’m breaking mediocrity. If I’m below .500 heading into week 6 it means I’m 2-4 and probably toast. Or 1-5 or 0-6, and only consuming alcohol. So in those two 2-3 record leagues, I’m staring down the barrel of some really horrible matchups. I feel like the Jags this week.

And if you’re looking for one the absolute sweetest blue ice fantasy contests this weekend, DraftKings still has an exclusive double up contest for us at Razzball that has a ton of spots open. Easiest way to double your money you’ll find all weekend. Unless of course, you want to risk working for Heisenberg – and by that I mean in ABQ not any of the RCL teams! (Sky is going to get angry for using Breaking Bad references in my open since that’s his meth, isn’t he? But I’m the one who knocks!)

Looking back at last week’s picks, I’m going to start with one of the most frustrating calls I’ve had go wrong this season and that’s the bench Vernon Davis call. I mean, camon! The 49ers did nothing in the passing game and Davis was limping around! Then a late fluke TD. Unreal. Still feel like that was a good call. Same unbelievably flukey luck from Chris Johnson, who scored virtually all his fantasy points on a terrible, busted play. Arrrghhhhh, so frustrating! Andrew Luckhad a decent game, but nothing huge so that’s a push for me, and Dwyane Bowe and Ryan Mathews (yeah, I know, he got hurt and wasn’t quite started in a majority of leagues, but he still counts) had bad games. 2-2-1 = Breaking mediocrity. For my starters, Kendall Wrightat 6 for 74 in a week I called him a PPR starter I think is a win, and Andre Ellingtonfor 83 yards and 4 catches I think is a win. Eddie Lacy barely broke double-digits in PPR and was decent so I’ll call that a push, while LeGarrette Blount fumbled his way out of an expanded role and Dallas Clark went from 29 targets in the first four weeks to no targets. Big head-scratcher there. Another 2-2-1. You get the picture. Here’s to your teams breaking mediocrity this week with who I like in week 6 and their % started in ESPN and Yahoo, respectively (NOTE – these are not always recommendations for 1-for-1 swaps, just guys I like who are understarted and guys I hate overstarted):

POSSIBLE STARTERS

Austin Pettis (2.5%, 9%) You know, I’m a little surprised with what Pettis has done so far this year that he’s not started in more leagues. The past four weeks he’s been money, scoring a TD in three of those games and 5 for 59 in the other. And sure, the Texans give up the least fantasy points to opposing WRs, but consider they’ve played the Chargers and gave up 3 TDs to them in week 1 (2 to Eddie Royal, who’s disappeared faster than Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man) then the Titans, Ravens, Seahawks and 49ers. None of those teams feature much depth at the receiver position. In a game where I think the Texans finally get it together and go up big, I think Pettis keeps it up in 2nd half catch-up mode.

Joe Flacco (12.9%, 15%) Whewww-eeee! Recommending Flacco as a starter?! I feel I need a shower. But it’s a great matchup against the Packers, who haven’t been able to stop the pass with any consistency this year. With no Clay Matthews trying to knock the nuggets out of Flacco’s hands, I think he’ll have a solid day trying to keep the Ravens in it.

DeAngelo Williams (35.8%, 48%) Man, now I’m recommending Panthers?! Things are getting reallllly dirty. But we’re up against the Vikings this week, and kinda surprisingly the Vikes give up the most points to opposing RBs. Last week was just, for lack of better words, a cluster$#% on offense for our cardiac arrest cats, and I think we look better when not against a tough Cards D.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis (31.3%, 26%) This is more-or-less a gut call. The Bills are actually good against the run, but with their QB position in disarray, I think the Bengals have a conservative offensive game plan, BJGE builds off his best week on the season that he had last week, and gets about 80 yards and a TD here.

DeAndre Hopkins (10.3%, 20%) After three straight weeks of quality production, Hopkins has been quiet in weeks 4 and 5. The main factor? How about going against Seattle and San Fran. I don’t think you can fault anyone for poor play against those defenses, but Houston is about ready to chase out Matt Schaub! I think the Texans play heavy offense all game even with a lead, so I’ll happily start Hopkins over a lot of guys started over him.

SON OF A BENCH

Matthew Stafford (61.0%, 69%) Ahhhhh, it feels so good, like it’s 2012 again! I think my “Son of a Bench” MVP from last year, Stafford was one of my big calls to be a disappointment and that made me feel good last season. I don’t feel as good about my constant David Wilson hate because of this possible career-effecting neck injury. Anywho, Stafford I think needs to be avoided this week with Megatron nursing a hurt gear in his bottom T-joint. Do Transformers have names for knees? While all signs point to Megatron playing at the time of this writing, I still think he’s gimpy and will limit Stafford against a pretty decent Browns D that has given up 6th fewest fantasy points to opposing QBs.

Larry Fitzgerald (73.1%, 76%) I really can’t think of a guy that I like more in the NFL that has gotten such a rotten deal the past few years. It looked likeCarson Palmermight’ve been Fitz’s renaissance tosser, but Palmer’s been more of a tosser the way the British use that term. At least I think that’s a negative saying, I don’t really know on that one. Fitz’s hammy is balky, the matchup is poopy, and the Cards offense sloppy.

Vincent Jackson (70.8%, 61%) The matchup is the best you could hope for (the Eagles give up the most points to opposing WRs) but VJax is a pass for me as he still tries to be productive with Mike Glennon. I see Chip Kelly dialing up blitz after blitz and this game a little more yawnstipating than fantasy owners would like.

Anquan Boldin (59.8%, 68%) You know, I was huge on Boldin after that big first week and I didn’t think it was a fluke. While I still think he’s a great receiver that didn’t get his due in Baltimore, the 49ers offense is doing him no favors. It’s a tough matchup against the Cards and Patrick Peterson is playing great right now.

Stevan Ridley (68.1%, 25%) I feel like this one is a cop-out call, but of all the RBs this week played in too many leagues, Ridley was the only guy that stood out to me. Yahoo has jumped off the bandwagon, but ESPN is probably factoring in too many dead leagues for Ridley t0 be played that much. Everything looks like he’ll be back, but tough to trust any backs in the NE backfield these days.

If you have any last second decisions, shoot some comments below or tweet me @jbgilpin – and remember I’m going to be a little slower getting to them but I’ll get to everything well before kickoff! Good luck in week 6!

@Johan Barleycorn:
You gotta go with Rg3, did you not see Dallas and how bad their pass defense was against Denver!
Plus Tampa Bay has a good pass defense don’t think it’s gonna be a high scoring game.

Ridley has been dropped in my 14 team PPR league. We currently own R. Bush, Forte, and, McGahee..we use FAAB and have 109 left for the season….how much do you think is too much to bid on Rildey, we currently have a bid in for 69 to outbid a few of the teams. We also have a small bid on Vereen as a stash for 3….does Ridley’s upside trump Vereen?

Half point PPR league – do I go with Ridley or James Jones in the flex? I have a feeling the Pats will realize Ridley is far superior to Blount and he’ll get a nice workload. But who knows what they’re thinking.

@de nachos: Haha I hope so! I still am a few seasons behind because I wait for them to come out on blu ray and marathon. Replace Ray with Ice, and it’s an apropos way to experience the show! Geez, nice decisions to make! Yeah probably Wayne. And Dola since PPR.

Was offered Cruz for shorts and gio Bernard. My remaining wrs are Andre Johnson, d Thomas, and Blackmon meaning if I take the trade I would be benching one of them or Cruz each week. My remaining Rbs are bell, McFadden, ellingotn, Doug Martin. Thought?

Sup JB… I picked up Terrance Williams with my big pick and I feel like I have to start him but Robert Woods on my bench his Projections just sky rocketed to 14 real quick. Start Terrance Williams or Robert Woods??

I know this isn’t a last second decision, and I hope you will pardon my digression. I’ve been offered a trade in my 12-team PPR/.5PPRush/ret. yardage league, and I was hoping to solicit your sage advise.

jb! i got a tough call to make. heading into monday night, i’m up 13.5 points, and i have a spot left to play either ty hilton or keenan allen. i was originally going to play hilton, but my opponent has rivers going, as well as the indy kicker.

is my best bet to play hilton and hope he has a good game while rivers has a shitty one(not likely), or is it to play allen, and hope to negate some of rivers’ points by allen hopefully catching some of his passes? 4pt qb td league. thanks man!!

Auction keeper PPR league $200 budget, these would be next yrs prices. $8 Morris, $10 Graham and $15 Jordy for $53 AP and $13 A Brown…which side? Also other guy is offering M Ryan, Roddy and Ridley for AP and M Austin…Ur thoughts?